US government asks nuclear firms to start negotiations in India

21 November 2006

Mumbai: The Bush administration has advised top US energy firms to start negotiations with their Indian counterparts within days of the senate approving the civil nuclear deal.

"We have advised the US companies to start their business negotiations right away because we do not know when the final green signal comes through", US under secretary of international trade Franklin L Lavin said.

Washington would like business negotiations to start in earnest without any further delay, he told reporters in a video conference.

Chief executives of US nuclear energy majors, including GE Energy, Nuclear Energy Institute, Thorium Power, Westinghouse Electric, BWXT, ConverDyn and WM Mining Company are expected to arrive in India on November 28.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have jointly organised a US-India business summit in Mumbai for intreacting with the CEOs of American companies and organisations engaged in different areas like fuels and power generation and are interested in doing business with India.

To meet the revised targets of nuclear-power generation, India will have to build at least 30 more reactors of 1,000 megawatts each and spend more than $40 billion in the international market.

The US estimates that overall business worth more than $100 billion can be generated if the Indian nuclear deal goes through, with companies such as France's Areva SA, Electricite de France and the United States' General Electric and Westinghouse Electric Co benefiting immensely.